A Video by Sherry Canino!

Leaves!  Is anything prettier in autumn? 

I’m thrilled and honored that, among many other StencilGirl stencils and masks that Sherry Canino chose for one of her  art-making adventures, she included my 9” x 12” stencil Clustered Leaves (see the far left and the far right, above.) She has been generous in allowing me to use her video --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDf2YSolNzk

Many thanks, Sherry, for letting me post your work here!

And thank you too to visitors at my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

3D Fun with Stencil Prints

There are many ways to build up three dimensions on a flat surface, especially when using acrylic media like modeling pastes, high-viscosity ("heavy body") gels and high-viscosity ("heavy body") paints.  Today's post, however, suggests a different way.

This 3D project was done on stretched canvas, but wooden supports of this kind are so lightweight that any sturdy surface can hold them ... art journal covers; hand-decorated picture frames; tags attached to gifts; etc.  (If you want wooden picture frames to decorate, you may want to try these or these.  If you want wooden tags to decorate for attaching to gifts, you might like these or these.)

Below:  I've chosen a sheet of foreign newsprint stencil-printed with my 6" x 6" stencils Trivet A (top print) and Quilted Flower Garden (bottom print.)

Atop that, I've placed a thin wooden shape from a package of assorted wooden shapes, available at craft stores or here.

Clicking on the above photo to enlarge it, you can see that I've freehand drawn an oval line around the wooden shape -- not the same size, but about 1/4" wider than the shape, all the way around.  I've used a blue color pencil so that the line will blend in with one of the paper's colors.

Clicking now on the photo above, you can see I've removed the wooden shape and have begun to cut along the oval that I drew.  

I could have worked from the back of this print -- by flipping the paper over to the "wrong" side and tracing my line-around-the-shape on that side -- but, working from the front, I could easily choose the area of the print that I most wanted to highlight.

In the photo below, I've turned the cut-out over onto its "wrong" side and placed the wooden shape atop it, getting ready to use my embellishment-strength gluestick.  I could also have chosen to use heavy gel medium, applying it with a cotton swab, but I prefer these gluesticks because the drying time is shorter.  

In the next photo, below, I have started applying glue to the edge of the paper shape.  I could have added glue to the wooden shape itself, but experience has taught me that with this glue, no additional application is needed.

If this had been a project calling for a larger wooden shape, I would have cut slits in the paper before folding its glued edges up over the  wooden shape.  But since I was working with a small shape, and since I knew this print had been made on flexible paper, I went ahead with folding the paper over the wooden shape, overlapping the folds all along the edges.  See below:

Above:  the "wrong" side of the wooden shape with the edges of the print wrapped around it.

Below is the paper-covered shape, shown right-side-up.

Now that the 3D shape was finished, it was time to put it to work on a 9" x 12" stretched canvas that I'd prepared in advance; it's shown below.

Above:  On stretched canvas:  art developed with acrylic paints, stencil prints and 3D elements that include the oval shape described in this post.  Stencils used in making the prints include Garden Montage (9" x 12") and the May 2019 StencilGirl StencilClub 3-stencil set.

Having decided to use the same approach to another artwork, I pulled out another stencil print, this one made with my 6" x 6" stencil Marbles 6 (which also comes in a 9" x 12" size.)  The photo below shows where I've traced another line around another wooden shape.

You can click on the above image to enlarge it and better see detail.

Above:  As before, glue has been applied.  This time, since the shape was quite small, I added glue to both the paper edge as well as the wooden shape itself.

This small squarish shape hasn't yet been used but it will eventually be an embellishment on another artwork similar to the first one displayed in this post.

Don't stop at using wooden shapes!  Look around and you'll find lots of other 3D shapes that can be covered with stencil prints.  Some, like the cardboard coasters shown below, are large enough to become Christmas ornaments.  Let your imagination soar!

Above:  Click on this photo to better see details in its enlargement.

Stencils used in making today's featured prints:

 6" x 6" stencil Marbles 6

6" x 6" Quilted Flower Garden 

6" x 6" Trivet A

And of course ...

May 2019 StencilGirl StencilClub 3-piece set

Thank you for stopping by my blog as part of your busy day!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.  To subscribe to this blog by email, please click on that option in the upper right sidebar.

Stencil-Printed Papers in Collages

Today's opener, above, incorporates three cut-outs from an ivory-and-black print made with my 6" x 6" stencil/mask Sprigs, which looks like this -- 

6" x 6" stencil/mask Sprigs

And the five photos below show collage-built covers on greeting cards; most of the papers used were printed with my 9" x 12" stencil/mask Garden Montage -- 

9" x 12" stencil/mask Garden Montage

The mini-heart on this collage was made with a hole punch, not a stencil.  On the upper far left, lower far right and upper right sides of this collage I've used prints made with my 6" x 6" stencil Swatton Links.

The lower horizontal bar and the right-side vertical bar were printed with my 6" x 6" stencil/mask Sassy Spray.

The lower horizontal bar and the right-side vertical bar were printed with my  9" x 12" stencil/mask Prayer Flags.

9" x 12" stencil/mask Prayer Flags

6" x 6" stencil/mask Sassy Spray

6" x 6" stencil Swatton Links

Many thanks for visiting my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Quick Prints with 4" x 4" Mini Stencils/Masks

Today I took a little time to make a handful of simple prints with my  mini stencils/masks R and E m268 and M and Y m267, each 4" x 4".

The prints below took just minutes to create:

M and Y m267

R and E m268

M and Y m267

This was actually plain paper that I had placed under M and Y m267 to clean it! 

This sheet of cardstock is a background-to-be for a future project.  The stencil used in the upper right is M and Y m267.

Thank you for coming to see my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Pairing Mini Stencils/Masks with StencilGirl StencilClub May 2019 Stencil of the Month

After designing the 3-stencil set that made up the May 2019 StencilGirl StencilClub Stencil of the Month, I wanted to use that 3-piece collection with lots of other stencils and masks!  I started with my 4" x 4" mini stencils/masks R and E m268 and M and Y m267. 

R and E m268 paired with the 4" x 4" stencil in the May 2019 Stencil of the Month

R and E m268 along with M and Y m267 , used over a print made with the_9" x 12" stencil in the
  May 2019 Stencil of the Month

M and Y m267 and the_6" x 6" stencil from the 3-piece set of
  May 2019 Stencil of the Month

R and E m268 along with M and Y m267 and the_6" x 6" stencil from the 3-part 
  May 2019 Stencil of the Month

Here, prints made with 2 stencils in the May 2019 set are hiding mostly in the background, but peeking thru the white paint. R and E m268 paired with M and Y m267 in developing the top layer.

My sincere gratitude to all who came here to visit today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

More Prints with 4" x 4" Set of Mini Stencils/Masks

 The photo below is a close-up of black cardstock that became background for spreading heavy-body matte gel medium thru a stencil using an old credit card.  After the gel had dried, I dry-brushed over the raised areas with silver metallic acrylic paint.  In this blog post, I give step-by step photos and directions on the dry-brushing technique.

The 3-dimensional imprint above was made with M and Y (m267), one of my two 4" x 4" mini stencils/masks --

M and Y, measuring 4" x 4" (m267)

R and E, measuring 4" x 4" (m268)

M and Y (m267) was also the stencil I chose for making the first two prints below:

The background was highly textured with several heavy body acrylic paints, mashed with an old credit card to form peaks and valleys.  After that had dried, I used M and Y with a mix of zinc white  (translucent) acrylic paint and Titanium White (opaque) acrylic paint.

Light magenta acrylic paint mixed with white molding paste, applied to dark blue cardstock.  Metallic gold crayon was added to two corners after the paint had dried.

R and E (m268) was the stencil/mask that I used in creating the two prints below:

Borders:  metallic crayon; print:  light magenta acrylic paint mixed with white molding paste.

Bottom layer:  gold metallic acrylic paint.  Top layer:  Titanium White (opaque) acrylic paint.

Many thanks for stopping here at my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Backgrounds for Print-Making with Stencils

Today's post trots out still more art samples created using my two brand-new StencilGirl stencils.  These minis of 4" x 4" each can also be called masks; in my opinion, that's what they actually are.   

M and Y, measuring 4" x 4" (m267)

R and E, measuring 4" x 4" (m268)

Using pre-printed backgrounds can add a jog of excitement to prints made with stencils.  Pre-printed background papers can certainly include papers you've prepared yourself.  But in this post I'll focus on using old picture calendar pages, old magazine picture pages and the like.

For starters, I've chosen flyleaf pages from old encyclopedias and other old books.  The photo below shows one of those flyleaf papers (originally printed with a pattern of marbled paper) ... it forms the background for this print created using m268 R and E .
  

Another "borrowed" background gives pizzazz to today's second print 
made with m268 R and E --

Below, a different flyleaf paper, also pre-printed with a marbled design, has been used with m267 M and Y.

Above is one more "borrowed" background that jazzes up this print 
made with m267 M and Y .

Thanks for visiting today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.